Meet moissanite, also known as silicon carbide, a natural mineral (SiC) so rare that, until the late 1980s, it was believed only found in grains of primitive chondrictic meteorites pre-dating the formation of our own Sun but with a 9.25 Mohs rating, a close contender in hardness to diamond (10).
Now that's interesting.
TURNING UP THE HEAT
The mineral is named after French chemist and 1906 Nobel Prize recipient Ferdinand Frédéric Henri Moissan, one of the original members of the International Atomic Weights Committee and designer of the electric-arc furnace, which could attain temperatures upwards of 3,500°C (or 6,332°F).
Moissan used his furnace to volatilize, or evaporate, substances heretofore regarded as infusible and impossible to melt down. His work preparing new compounds helped lead to the discovery of the highly abrasive carborundum and afforded him the pursuit of his own theory that diamonds could be synthesized by crystallizing carbon under pressure from molten iron.
That's right. Monsieur Moissan is a grandperé of the artificial diamond.
In fact, the chemist misidentified natural moissanite as a diamond in 1893, while examining grains of rock samples from a meteor crater in Canyon Diablo outside of Flagstaff, Arizona. The resulting dent in the Earth, nearly a mile wide and 750 feet deep, according to The Barringer Crater Company, was created when a meteor, estimated at 300,000 tons and traveling 26,000 mph, struck with 150 times the force of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima and blanketed the desert for a mile in every direction with pulverized melted rock mixed with fragments of meteoritic iron.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September 2023-Ausgabe von Rock&Gem Magazine.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September 2023-Ausgabe von Rock&Gem Magazine.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Rockhounding Ohio's Lake Erie Islands
A short ferry boat ride three miles from Ohio’s Lake Erie coastline is South Bass Island, better known as Put-in-Bay or the “Key West of the North.”
Iowa's Hidden Treasures
Exploring Keokuk Geodes: How They're Made & What's Inside
Agatized CORAL
Florida's Collectible State Stone
Rockhounding Florida's Beaches
Beachcombing serene stretches of Florida can reveal fascinating finds like fossilized shark teeth, sea glass, quartz, agate and even coral fragments.
Collecting Staurolite
Hot Spots In Virginia & Georgia
Pecos Valley Diamonds
New Mexico's Ancient Attraction
12 Tips for Rockhounding Tucson's Greatest Shows
Tucson in February becomes the international hub for buying and selling colored gems, rocks, minerals and fossils.
Turquoise in the American Southwest
A Water & Sky Souvenir
Touring Colorado's MINERAL BELT
It's a Showcase of Mining History & Minerals
Geology &Colorado's Taurish Traiks
Most of Colorado’s tourist trains today were originally constructed in the late 1800s to serve the state’s lucrative mining operations.